2 Chronicles opens with King Solomon center stage:
Solomon
son of David established himself in his kingdom; the Lord his God was with him
and made him exceedingly great. (2 Chronicles 1:1)
Just as the Chronicler gives us a glowing picture of the life of
David, so also he gives us a similar picture of the life of Solomon. Rather
than focusing, as Kings does, on how Solomon killed off his father’s enemies at
the beginning of his reign, the Chronicler zeroes in on Solomon’s building of
the Temple as his first task. As in Kings, Solomon asks for wisdom, and the
Lord gives it to him, along with riches, possessions, and honor. This reminds
me of the words of Jesus in Matthew 6:33,
But strive first for the kingdom of God and his
righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
God does not promise us riches, but if we seek
his kingdom first, then he will provide for our basic needs.
These first four chapters focus on some of the
details of building the first Temple in Jerusalem, details that seem
uninteresting to us when we first read them. However, these details would have been
of much interest to the Jews returning from exile as they sought to rebuild
their Temple in Jerusalem. Furthermore, the details have been of interest to
architects and artists in our own time that have been able to use these details
to reconstruct what Solomon’s Temple would have looked like.
However, this was not the most interesting part
of this reading to me. The intriguing part to me comes in 2 Chronicles 2:6
where Solomon says:
But who is able to build him a house, since heaven, even
highest heaven, cannot contain him? Who am I to build a house for him, except
as a place to make offerings before him?
I am not sure that this portrait of humility was
a completely accurate portrait of Solomon when compared to the picture we get
of him in Kings. However, let us take it at face value for a moment. Whether or
not this is a historically accurate portrait of Solomon, this is a true
portrait of what the response of every human must be when he or she comes into
the presence of the God of the universe. Whenever, wherever, and however such
an encounter happens, I believe the typical response of human beings is to
think: “How small I am in comparison to the greatness of God!” It is the same
feeling one has when one stands under a clear, nighttime, summer sky and gazes up at the stars. It is the same response the psalmist has when he asks,
What are human beings that you are mindful of them,
mortals that you care for them? (Psalm 8:4)
Solomon asks two vital questions. The first one
is: Who is able? There was a hymn written about a hundred years ago. It is
seldom sung anymore, and that is a good thing. The opening words of the hymn go
like this….
“Are ye able,” said the Master,
“to
be crucified with me?”
“Yea,”
the sturdy dreamers answered,
“to
the death we follow thee.”
I say it is a good thing we do not sing this hymn
anymore because the words are so false. The fact is, we are not able to be
crucified with the Master. We do not have the power, in and of ourselves, to
follow our Lord to the death.
Much better are the words of the more recent
praise song….
He is able more than able
To accomplish what concerns me today
He is able more than able
To handle anything that comes my way
He is able more than able
To do much more than I could ever dream
He is able more than able
To make me what He wants me to be
According to the Chronicler, Solomon wisely
realized that he was not able to build a house for God. There is only one who
can build and did build and is building a house for God. That is the one who said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” (John 2:19)
The second vital question that Solomon asks is:
Who am I? That is a question that every reflective human being asks. It is a
question that is, when asked the way Solomon asked it, full of humility and
wonder. It is a question to which we find the only true answer when we look
into the face of God. As Calvin once noted, knowledge of God and knowledge of
self are related. As Jesus said: “For those who want to save their life will
lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the
gospel, will save it.” (Mark 8:35) We find our true identity in serving God.
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